Immigration body criticises GTA IV

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has hit out at Rockstar for basing GTA IV’s gang activity around Eastern European immigrants.

The main protagonist in the title, Niko Bellic, is an Eastern European immigrant in the US.

The JCWI has told The Times that it disagrees with a Balkan being portrayed as being involved in a criminal underworld – and that the game could even make ‘life hard’ for real-life Eastern European immigrants.

A spokesman said: “The figures show that East European immigrants are not proportionately responsible for any increase in crime. This plays on untrue stereotypes.”

The JCWI is an independent national voluntary organisation that says it ‘campaigns for justice and combating racism in immigration and asylum law and policy’.

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